Starting out on steep incline

eagle19952 · May 21, 2018, 07:49:59 PM

is reverse a lower gear ?

RJ · May 21, 2018, 07:57:56 PM

Donald -

Not on this transmission, it's almost identical to 1st.

FWIW & HTH. . .

eagle19952 · May 22, 2018, 08:58:44 AM

Quote from: RJ on May 21, 2018, 07:57:56 PM
Donald -

Not on this transmission, it's almost identical to 1st.

FWIW & HTH. . .

well, that sucks

chessie4905 · May 22, 2018, 10:47:46 AM

As far as those discs, consult Luke. Otherwise they could be obtained from a cannabilized manual trans. I don't know wether 4106 used them. Someone here could consult shop manual.

richard5933 · May 22, 2018, 11:06:03 AM

Actually, I did speak to Luke about this subject this morning coincidentally. He said that yes, there should be such a thing on the transmission. He also said that whether or not it helps put the thing in first from neutral at a stop is still a crap shoot. Apparently he's had experienced some buses which were near impossible to put in first that still had the system check out as functional, and others with exactly the same setup that went into gear easily.

Either way, the presence of a clutch/shaft brake won't make any difference to the issue at hand: getting moving from a standstill heading up a steep incline. Everyone seems to agree that the fault is mine and that more practice will help. I'm okay with that answer. We're heading 'up north' to Black River Falls WI for a long weekend, and then in July will be heading to Gillette WY for the FMCA rally. Those trips combined with an as-yet-unscheduled trip to the east coast should give me plenty of chance to practice.

One question...with the knowledge that I've got some type of clutch/shaft brake does that mean that during normal shifts (up and down) I should not push the pedal all the way to the floor? My thought is that it should only be pressed enough to disengage and maybe a bit more - is this correct?

chessie4905 · May 22, 2018, 03:48:33 PM

Re-read reply #22.

richard5933 · May 22, 2018, 04:11:25 PM

Quote from: chessie4905 on May 22, 2018, 03:48:33 PM
Re-read reply #22.

Thanks. Somehow I missed that.

DoubleEagle · May 22, 2018, 06:17:36 PM

Have you tried the downhill approach to your driveway? It seems that it might be a possibility if you hugged the centerline and got into first gear and slowly arced into the driveway at full crank. With flashers on, and maybe warning cones placed at the top of the hill (or a flag person), it might be a lot safer and easier on the clutch.

richard5933 · May 22, 2018, 07:20:44 PM

Distance from center line of the road to the fence alongside our house is just over 13 feet. The 4108 has a turning radius of about 46 feet. I can make it from the uphill side since I'm on the other side of the road and because the driveway is angled to make the approach from that side possible.

Our house was built originally in the 1800s as a granery for the dairy barn on our property, which is why it's literally on the side of the road. The road, by the way, was originally a dirt road that served the farm. Later it became a county highway which they snuck in between the existing buildings. The garage across our driveway entrance was built as a shed, and the only vehicle that had reason to be between the shed and the granery was supposed to be a horse and wagon. Guess they never envisioned some nut like me would want to drive a bus through there...

The driveway does go all the way around the back of the barn and out towards the top of the hill, but it's narrow, has too tight of a turn, is uphill, gravel, and has a ditch on each side big enough to swallow a bus wheel. We had a friend in the landscaping business give a quote on fixing it so that we can get the bus around to the uphill end of the driveway, but the quote came in at about $22K due to the amount of earth needed to be moved. For that money we could buy and install a V730. Either way, the budget just isn't there right now. The other problem we have to be careful about is that our entire property is considered a 'pre-existing non-conforming' property, and if we spend more than a set percentage of the value doing improvements we would be required to bring the entire property up to code. That literally isn't possible due to the location of the buildings on the property. Sometimes I feel like we are living in an episode of Green Acres.

We live in the Kettle Moraine area in SE Wisconsin, and while the hills are not really that high they come up suddenly. The whole area is actually beautiful and if I didn't need to get the bus in and out all would be great.

I'll keep practicing my technique and will use this as motivation to perfect the needed skills.

windtrader · May 22, 2018, 08:49:39 PM

You can do like many others do and park it in a storage lot.

richard5933 · May 23, 2018, 05:00:28 AM

Quote from: windtrader on May 22, 2018, 08:49:39 PM
You can do like many others do and park it in a storage lot.

That would be giving up. Not like me. I don't think I'd want to continue working on a project like this if it wasn't onsite, so I'm going to keep at it till I get the technique down.

From my conversation with Luke, I'm basically doing it right and just need more practice to be able to start off more confidently on the uphill.